Eliza Doolittle

From Freepedia

Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character who appears in the play Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw, 1912) and, by extension, the musical version of that play My Fair Lady.

Eliza is a Cockney flower girl, who comes to Professor Henry Higgins asking for elocution lessons, after a chance encounter at Covent Garden. Higgins goes along with it for the purposes of a wager: that he can turn her into the toast of elite London society.

Doolittle receives voice coaching and learns the rules of etiquette. The outcome of these attentions varies between the original play and the various adaptations are discussed at the Pygmalion article.

The part of Eliza was originally played by Mrs Patrick Campbell, at that time the most famous actress on the London stage but considered by many to be far too old for the role. The unprecedented use of the word "bloody" - as a scripted intensive - caused a sensation when Campbell delivered it.

George Bernard Shaw personally requested the young English actress Wendy Hiller to repeat her stage performance and play the first film version of the character in the 1938 film Pygmalion. Her performance served as the definative film portrayal until Audrey Hepburn played the role in the highly successful 1964 film musical My Fair Lady. Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes in Gone WIth the Wind) played opposite Wendy Hiller , as Henry Higgins, in the 1938 version of Pygmalion.

Rex Harrison originated the musical version of Henry Higgins, on stage in My Fair Lady, with Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle. Rex Harrison went on to reprise his role in the film version with Audrey Hepburn.

Joseph Weizenbaum named his artificial intelligence computer program ELIZA after this character.